Statements in Meeting with the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance and Cultural Representatives of the Islamic Republic Abroad

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

First, I extend a warm welcome to my dear brothers; may you not be weary. As Mr. Khatami pointed out, this is a great responsibility. You are in an unfamiliar and unfavorable environment in terms of cultural efforts, and certainly, the policies of global arrogance—both visible and invisible—are directly confronting you. It can be said that there is hardly a place where effective efforts by the Islamic Republic are made without the enemy—meaning the camp of disbelief and global arrogance—being sensitive to it and making efforts against it to the extent of its ability. Your work under these conditions is truly commendable and worthy of praise and appreciation.

Regarding cultural work and its importance, whatever is said is a repetition of what has been said before, and there is only one point, which is the message of the revolution and the principle of conveying it, which is one of the definitive Islamic principles. Propagation means conveying—'those who convey the messages of God' (Ahzab: 39)—meaning overcoming barriers and obstacles and delivering the word of truth to the center where it should reach. Whatever is said revolves around this one point, and in this regard, many things have been said and written.

What I can say is that you should compare the expected situation with the situation in which the Islamic Republic finds itself. The result of this comparison should alert us to new methods and untried works, or to correct what has been done. Here, a review and self-examination and self-accounting are necessary.

In my opinion, a correct assessment of what is expected is very important. In an environment where all factors are generally against religious and spiritual inclinations, and specifically against Islamic inclinations, nations, despite these opposing factors, have been thirsty and eager to hear spiritual and religious words. Meanwhile, a sincere and powerful cry has risen, and because of its sincerity and the devotion of the speaker and its practical backing—which has shown that it is not just words—and because of the enmity of the ugly faces of the world with it—meaning the face of arrogance, the face of reaction, the face of the money-hoarders—and because of various factors of this kind, it has created a real and relatively deep place and impact in the hearts of nations, especially Muslim nations; so much so that from the beginning of the revolution until now, wherever the agents and factors of the revolution—like you and me—have set foot, they have found that the cry and its owner have preceded them there.

In the early days of the revolution, I myself went to India and visited almost all the cultural and political centers of this country. Wherever I set foot, I saw that the revolution and Imam had been there before us! When we went, the people welcomed us because we were representatives of this center; not that we went there and the people were unaware, and then we said such an event had happened.

It is still the same. In those countries where we do not have representation, when you enter for the first time, if you succeed in reaching the expected popular circles—now we are not talking about those groups that are distant from these issues—if you go to student and intellectual circles and circles of committed and sincere people, you will see that this message has reached there before you. In the various trips I have made to different places over different periods, without exception in all countries—whether Islamic or non-Islamic, even communist countries—I have seen this.

So you see, the strength of the influence of that source was such that without creating a propagandist, sending someone, or dispatching anyone—like the Christians and Marxists and parties and organizations sending their propaganda armies—even without sending a booklet, writing, or a line, meaning the system could claim that we had previously informed the people there, this message has crossed borders like the spring air, like the morning breeze, like the scent of flowers.

When I saw these things in the early days, this image truly formed in my mind that in a garden, the scent of a blessed flower bush has been spread. The scent of this flower does not say that the garden gate is closed and I am not allowed to go out; or here is the barbed wire of this garden and I am not allowed to pass it; it has filled the space. This image always formed in my mind; it was the impression of reality.

Which idea, school of thought, personality, cry, and invitation in the world do you know that has such a fertile ground, as we had; our revolution and our Imam and his cry and action and his nation had? Now, as an organization, what should we do? In such a favorable environment, what should we have done? What should have been done? Immediately, capable people should go and organize and deepen what has been done; we needed this. That is, we did not need to take the message there; rather, we needed to do something to deepen what had gone by itself. Deepening requires work. Depth is not achieved that way; rather, it is only a groundwork. Delicate and precise work must be done on that groundwork.

In such a context, the propaganda apparatuses of the Islamic Republic have worked for twelve years. You are experts in these matters, and if people like us want to be informed of the realities, we refer to you to tell us what is happening. Now you judge whether we have been able to create a market for this commodity in that fertile, bubbling, all-encompassing, and attractive environment and deepen it in these twelve years or not? The analysis of realities is up to you.

My understanding, to the extent that I am aware of the issues, is that our efficiency has not been commensurate with that favorable environment. Not that this is anyone's fault; that is not the issue. When a capital is placed at the disposal of an organization that can, for example, trade or do business with ten million tomans, if suddenly ten billion tomans are placed at its disposal, it is clear that it cannot work. This is not anyone's fault; but the comparison between these two—what should be and what is—should compel us to see where our deficiencies are.

We must meticulously and without leniency investigate the deficiencies and see what problems have been in our work. Have parallel lines in propaganda work and the absence of a single center been effective? Has the inexperience of the agents been effective? Has the existence of conflicts between the direct apparatuses in the host country been effective? Has not correctly identifying priority tasks been effective? Has placing a priority three task in priority one and a priority one task in priority three, and not observing the sequence of matters, been effective? Have financial shortages and facilities been effective? Has the existence of enemies and their efficient and equipped propaganda apparatuses—which have the backing of global arrogance—been effective? All of these are possible.

The easiest thing to say is that all of these together have been effective. We had a shortage of money, a shortage of people. Now, for example, the number of representatives we have in countries is not the necessary number; the necessary number is several times this. Naturally, we have shortages in human and material resources and equipment. We must sit like a calculator and a thinking brain, make a table, put these deficiencies in the table, and see which ones are beyond our control and which ones are under our control. Those that are under our control, we must strive to solve those problems. Negligence in work is not permissible.

From the beginning, we have said that the face of the revolution—the symbolic part and the outward face of the revolution—is a cultural face. Our policy is also subservient to our culture. We did not want to separate our religion from politics. Our culture is made by our history, school of thought, and revolution. With this great claim, people have expectations from us. In the past few years, there have been few instances where these committed and loyal intellectuals to the Islamic Republic, from various Arab and Asian countries, have come and met with me, except that each one who came pointed out some deficiencies in our cultural propaganda!

We must take these deficiencies seriously one by one. In appointing people we send for this work, the element of revolutionary outlook, the element of being cultural, the element of intellect, and above all these, the element of piety—meaning the person truly feels the duty—must be considered. Such a person should go there, and between him and God, see what he can do with the facilities he has.

The people of the world are still thirsty. Despite all the opposition that has been made against the Islamic Republic, and the poisonous propaganda resulting from the deep hostility of the camp of arrogance with Islam—it is a discussion of Islam; now the discussion of Iran is not even raised—which could have had a lot of impact on people's minds, nevertheless, the loyalty of nations to us is still great.

During the presidency, I wanted to travel to several countries. Before that, an incident had occurred on a global and international level that Zionist, American, and arrogant propaganda was fanning. I went to Imam to say goodbye and receive the usual guidance and advice he would give us on every trip. I said, coincidentally, this issue also happened on the eve of our trip, and governments and enemies are very sensitive to these matters. He said: Yes, but the nations are with you. On that trip, I clearly observed this statement, which could not have been proven to me so clearly with a hundred types of reasoning.

It has always been like this; the nations are with us. The hearts of the nations are here; provided that they observe a response from us. If they feel that our ears hear, our hearts think, and our various forces respond to them, their hope increases.

Observe the work. Among the things that are very important is observing the officially announced policies of the Islamic Republic abroad. Wherever you are, do not let a personal taste in your mind, action, and language prevail over the adopted policy of the Islamic Republic. If we assume that the policy is a wrong policy, the way to correct that wrong is certainly not for an element affiliated with the Islamic Republic to, for example, announce his opposition to those policies in public or private circles. This action would indicate that in addition to the Islamic Republic adopting a wrong policy, it also has organizational bankruptcy. This is two faults.

Any organization—even the organization of a family—is the same way; it must be cohesive to be trusted. We must be connected. A system that has taken on such a heavy burden must be a symbol of cohesion. Among the people, someone may have an opinion that is contrary to the prevailing and official opinions; but an element that is a member of the apparatus must announce the official opinion of the apparatus there and practically show the unity of the organizational system. This is very important. We have experienced these and seen how they are reflected outside.

You know that over the past few years, there have been various policies in the country. Whoever went on a mission, after all, may have disagreed with one of these policies at any given time. You remember what the official and adopted policies of the government were in 1980; those years when revolutionary elements were going out. In those years, I experienced and saw up close that what was important in the eyes of outsiders was not that an element going there and having a disagreement with a certain official of the system, would say there, for example, that he is nobody, or his words are not very credible, or the policy he has adopted is wrong, we do not accept it, or a group does not accept it. Even if that policy is wrong, this does not solve it at all.

You know that at that time, the market for wrong policies was open. At that time, there was a wrong policy from the liberals who were dominant over the appearance and essence of the apparatus; meanwhile, revolutionary elements also went out and knew how to behave so as not to question the apparatus organizationally. This is a very fundamental and important point that must be considered.

Of course, I heard there that there is a conflict between the foreign policy and propaganda apparatuses. A few years ago, during the presidency, it was raised; apparently, it is still raised. You must resolve this conflict; it should not remain in this form. Of course, part of it is up to the brothers at the top, who must solve the generalities here; they quickly reach a conclusion. The problem does not remain here; the main issue is there, which is sometimes work and political issues, sometimes personal issues. You should not let this difference be shown outside; if it is shown, definitely know that the apparatus and the Islamic Republic system have suffered. You must pay a lot of attention to this point.

God willing, may God grant you success and help you. The burden is heavy, and on the other hand, it is very virtuous. You have chosen a very, very noble and virtuous job; God willing, you will be subject to divine success and satisfaction, and what is in the interest of Islam and Muslims and in the interest of the revolution will be accomplished by you.

I must truly thank the dear brothers, the honorable Minister of Guidance—Mr. Khatami—and the other officials who pursue this propaganda work and this great movement worldwide. God willing, this work will proceed better, sharper, more effective, and more wisely.

Of course, a few years ago, in a private two or three-hour session, I do not know if any of the present brothers were there or not, I made some recommendations. I am now considering those recommendations; but I do not want to repeat them and bring them to the tongue. In any case, those recommendations are very, very important. God willing, you will be successful and supported.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings